Payer

Iowa officials will increase payments to three managed care companies overseeing the state's Medicaid beneficiaries by $33.2 million, reports The Gazette.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark withdrew 2017 ACA marketplace plans from two counties in Pennsylvania, WITF reports.

Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health and Humana expanded the companies' Medicare Advantage network contract to include two Jefferson subsidiaries.

A preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed the insurance industry saw 1,700 jobs created in September, a marginal 0.07 percent increase over August.

UnitedHealthcare and Houston-based human resource company Insperity amended their ongoing contract for Insperity employees after the company exceeded volume targets faster than anticipated.

DaVita Kidney Care halted application support for Medicaid-eligible patients for ACA plans and premium assistance following a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report questioning the Denver-based company's motivations.

Aetna and Phoenix-based Banner Health will create and jointly own a health plan company offering employer-based insurance in Arizona's Maricopa and Pinal Counties, with eyes toward statewide expansion.

Health plans sold through the state and federal ACA marketplace are given a metal designation corresponding to the share of a consumer's health cost the plan underwrites.

Rising premiums and departing ACA marketplace insurers have raised concerns these challenges will only exacerbate as healthy enrollees forgo marketplace coverage and leave sicker, more expensive enrollees to influence risk pools, Vox reports.

To encourage policyholders to use in-network services next year, health plan co-op Community Health Options hiked its deductibles for out-of-network care by up to 472 percent, Portland Press Herald reports.